


walking the wire

by lumosflies



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:53:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25321201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumosflies/pseuds/lumosflies
Summary: “So you just decided to go for a swim?” he asked with a slight smirk.“I can’t swim in here,” she shook her head as she replied in a serious tone, “It’s too shallow.”George raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. She seemed aware that this was unusual, even for a college student, but she talked about it as if she was simply stating the obvious. How was this girl standing in the middle of a fountain at 4:30 in the morning the calm one here?---George meets Luna on his procrastinator walk of shame home from the library.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood/George Weasley
Comments: 18
Kudos: 19





	1. dancing in the dark

**Author's Note:**

> I've always had a soft spot for George/Luna.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also, big shoutout/thanks to @tiffaniesblews for beta reading and encouraging me to write this!

The only people who were awake at 4:30 a.m. on a Wednesday were baristas getting ready for their shifts, a few people who never missed their morning jogs, procrastinators walking home from their all-nighters in the library. Unfortunately for George Weasley, who had a 9 a.m. lecture later that day, he belonged to the last group.

He thought his days of powering through essays and projects overnight at the library were over now that he was a graduate student, but some things never changed. For instance, he knew that if he set at least three alarms on his phone and took a shortcut (the bike path that extended beyond the campus), he would be able to get at least three hours of sleep.

On any other day, George would have kept to himself and minded his business as he walked home to his apartment. He would have been fine minding his own business if he didn’t happen to look over at the fountain in the center of the library’s plaza on his way out of the building. He rubbed his eyes, just to check that he was actually awake, and let his gaze linger as he kept walking.

There was a girl walking around in the fountain.

George looked around to see if anyone else was witnessing this scene, but they were the only two people outside right now.

She was wearing light blue capris that had been rolled up to her knees and a dark green sweater with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows, so George could only assume she didn’t plan on this early morning excursion. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled up into a loose ponytail, but it still reached her lower back. Her bright yellow backpack and sandals were left on the ground just a few feet away from her as she waded through the water.

George wanted to keep walking without making eye contact with this girl. He fully intended to keep walking with his eyes glued to the pavement until he was at least across the street. It was too early, and he did not have enough caffeine in his body to properly register any of this. It was just his luck that she called out to him just as he made it past the fountain.

“I’m not inebriated,” the girl said in a soft voice, just loud enough to hear over the gentle splashing from the fountain’s centerpiece. “Not that it matters. We shouldn’t judge people for that anyways.”

As much as he wanted to ignore her, walk away, and forget this ever happened, George’s legs betrayed him. He didn’t know why he stopped. Maybe it was his upbringing preventing him from keeping his back turned when someone addressed him. Or he was just a little curious. He just stopped walking and turned around to face her. The girl in the fountain was standing still now.

“So you just decided to go for a swim?” he asked with a slight smirk.

“I can’t swim in here,” she shook her head as she replied in a serious tone, “It’s too shallow.”

George raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. She seemed aware that this was unusual, even for a college student, but she talked about it as if she was simply stating the obvious. How was this girl standing in the middle of a fountain at 4:30 in the morning the calm one here?

“Right...” he finally conceded, starting to turn back toward his original destination. “I’ll leave you to it. Try not to get caught by security.”

“Goodbye. It was nice meeting you,” she said as she continued walking around in the water. George watched her for a moment, wondering if she even cared about anyone else seeing her before he shrugged and went on his way. He had already lost precious minutes that he could have spent sleeping.

In his experience, college was a time for many to explore their newfound freedom and be a little rebellious. Maybe that’s what she was doing—just looking for something exciting to do now that she was living away from home without any supervision. Hell, he and Fred had done much wilder things than fountain diving when they were in undergrad. He liked to think that they were a little less reckless now that they were a little older and wiser.

All thoughts of the girl in the fountain were pushed to the back of his mind as he approached his apartment complex. He had a bed waiting for him and a lecture to come back for in just a few hours. George was asleep within seconds of making contact with the mattress.

\----

The rest of the week flew by without any more weird encounters for George. He retained none of the information from the lecture on Wednesday, but he at least managed to show up and stay awake. He spent the next two evenings relieving Fred of his shift at the grocery store down the street from their apartment, and he tried to keep up with the group chat he had with some of his siblings in his free time.

He couldn’t actually keep up with all the memes and texts that they sent while he was at work, but Fred was nice enough to tell him the important details when he got home on Thursday night.

“Ginny’s having a little get-together tomorrow,” he said as soon as George walked through the door.

George kicked off his shoes and made a beeline for the fridge.

“Yeah? Is it a get-together or a party?” he joked as he grabbed a can of beer.

He looked over at Fred sitting on the couch in the living room, who just nodded back at him. George grabbed a second can and made his way over to his brother, handing him his drink as he sat down.

“Just a few friends and her roommate,” Fred replied. They opened their cans, and George put his feet up on the coffee table before them.

“It always starts that way, huh?” he chuckled at the memory of their last “get-together” where he woke up in his friend Lee Jordan’s living room floor halfway across town.

During their undergrad days, Fred and George were notorious for hosting outrageous parties that earned them multiple noise complaints, angry neighbors, and an abundance of stories to tell at the next one. Once Ron and Ginny came to the same school and joined their respective football

teams, the Weasley name had become synonymous with quality parties.

“Lee’s coming over after work tomorrow, then we’ll just head over together.”

George nodded and took a long sip of his beer. He still had a research paper to work on tonight, but he needed a few minutes to unwind after dealing with impatient customers harassing the poor cashiers under his supervision. Most of them were teenagers, and the last thing he wanted was for them to be traumatized by their first job.

“What should we bring for a housewarming gift?”

“I can pick up some plants at the store after class,” Fred offered.

“Can’t go wrong with a few succulents,” George agreed.

Although Ginny was the youngest in the family, she was fiercely independent, and they both knew she wouldn’t accept anything that made it look like they were trying to help her. Years ago, they offered to let her sleep over for her freshman orientation so she wouldn’t have to stay in the dorms in the middle of summer. They have yet to make the same mistake since.

Fred filled him in on everything else he missed during the day— Bill and Fleur were still trying to have a baby, Charlie tried to teach their parents how to use a webcam over the phone, and Ron couldn’t figure out why Hermione was mad at him again.

George chuckled at the last update. The last time he checked, they had just gotten over the volume of the tv when Ron was watching a football game. Geroge didn’t know what she else expected when she decided to move in with the two co-captains of the men’s football team. He just hoped they would make it to the end of their lease without killing each other.  
After an hour or so of watching Star Wars with Fred, George decided he needed to get up and work on his paper. He already had the notes and a rough outline from earlier, anyways. It was just a matter of putting those notes into coherent thoughts on paper. He didn’t want to have a repeat of Tuesday night, and if he started now, he could probably finish before midnight.

“Night Fred,” he mumbled on the way to his room.

“Night Georgie,” Fred called over his shoulder. George flipped him off, earning a laugh from Fred, and closed the door.

\----

George didn’t put much thought into his appearance for Ginny’s party. If it really was just a few friends and her roommate, there was nothing to worry about. If it turned out to be much larger than expected, he still couldn’t care much. He threw on a faded purple flannel over a plain black t-shirt and dark wash jeans and decided that was enough for him. When he opened his bedroom door, he was met with the sight of Fred standing at his own doorway across the hall Fred was wearing a nearly identical outfit, but his flannel was a dull orange.

“Well one of us is gonna have to change,” George chuckled.

“It’s our brand,” Fred shrugged as he made his way out to the living room, where Lee was laughing at both of them for managing to still dress the same after all these years.

“This is why we broke up,” George rolled his eyes.

There was no actual malice in his voice. He and Lee had broken up last year simply because they realized they were better off as friends, much to Fred’s simultaneous joy and disappointment.

“You just couldn’t handle this massive pac—”

“Okay! Sharing time is over!” Fred interrupted loudly. “I didn’t wanna hear your bedroom talk then and I still don’t wanna hear it now.”

George laughed and picked up one of the succulents and a six pack of hard ciders—one of Ginny’s guilty pleasures—from their kitchen table. George and Fred were identical in nearly every way, except for the fact that George was bisexual and had dated Lee throughout their last year of undergrad.

Fred and Lee grabbed one each as well, and Fred picked up a six pack of some craft beer George had never heard of. After checking that they had their phones, wallets, and keys in their pockets, the three left the apartment and started walking toward Ginny’s new apartment.

“Have you guys met her roommate yet?” Lee asked.

“Nope,” Fred answered with a shake of his head. “She wouldn’t let us help with the move in so this will be the first time.”

“I’m surprised she’s not living with Hermione this year. I thought they were best friends,” said Lee.

“Hermione’s living with Ron and Harry. Those three were always at each other’s apartments anyways,” George said. “Just made sense to make the move in official.”

The rest of the walk was short, with Ginny only living a few blocks away. Lee held the doors for the twins as they entered the building and made their way up to Ginny’s apartment. George heard some muffled voices gradually getting louder as they approached the door, and they didn’t sound happy.

He could only assume that Ron was arguing with either Hermione or Ginny. If it was Hermione, he knew they would either make up by the end of the night or one of them would storm out. If it was Ginny, then Ron didn’t even stand a chance.

As if Fred could read his mind, he chimed, “I’ll do your laundry for two weeks if Ron’s fighting with Ginny.”

“I’ll do it for a whole month if it’s Hermione,” George nodded in agreement.

Their hands were too full to shake on it, but the verbal agreement was enough for them with Lee as a witness. Lee knocked on the door.

“Moment of truth, boys.”

A few seconds later, Ginny opened the door to reveal Ron and Harry sitting on the couch, yelling at what George assumed was a football game on the tv. Lee couldn’t stop laughing at their defeated expressions as he walked inside.

“Hey,” Ginny grinned at them, stepping aside. “Come on in.”

“For our favorite sister,” Fred offered the plant in his hands. George did the same with the plant and pack of hard ciders in his hands.

Ginny took the drinks from George and gestured to the window in the living room area.  
“Thanks! Those can go over there,” she said.

Once all three plants were safely deposited on the window sill, George turned back to the scene before him. His suspicions of the football game were right, as he watched an Italian goalie dive for the ball on the screen.

“Do you two think about anything other than football?” he teased.

“Ginny had it on in the first place,” Ron said defensively.

“I’m in a family of jocks,” George rolled his eyes as he made his way back to the kitchen to grab one of the craft beers Fred carried over.

“You’re just as into it as we are,” Harry chuckled. “And you’ve been playing since before you could walk. It’s in your blood.”

“Yeah, but you two live and breathe football,” Fred added, sitting down between the two boys on the couch.

With the exception of their brother Percy, all of the Weasley siblings had played on a football team throughout their school days. It was the one thing they could all bond over, no matter how much they disagreed on any other mundane topic. George opened his beer and sat down on Harry’s other side.

“Where’s Hermione?” he asked. “You two didn’t make her come alone, did you?”

“She went out to get snacks with—” Harry was interrupted by the arrival of the girl in question entering the apartment with her arms full of paper bags.

George suddenly felt a pang of guilt; he and Fred lived much closer to the same store she had just returned from, judging from the logo on the bags. He looked over at Fred, who just nodded in silent agreement, and they got up to take the bags from Hermione.

“Thanks,” she smiled as they started unpacking the chips, pretzels, dip, and soda onto the kitchen table.

“Did you get the rum and vodka, too?” Ron asked from the couch.

“Yes. They only came in large sizes, so I hope it will do,” an unfamiliar voice in an oddly familiar lighthearted tone said from the other side of the table.

George looked up and nearly dropped the jar of dip in his hands at the sight before him. The girl from the other day—the one who was just wading around in a fountain like it was no big deal— was setting down the alcohol on the table. She was wearing loose overall shorts with a light blue t-shirt underneath and a bright green headband pushing her hair away from her face. This was definitely the same girl. He stared, dumbfounded, until Fred shoved him lightly.

“What’s with you?”

“Guys, this is Luna,” Ginny cut in before George could answer. “We’ve been friends since freshman year.”

There was a hint of warning in his sister’s tone that told George he was in for a fight if he said the wrong thing. He believed it, too, with the way she was opening the pack of plastic cups.

“Fred,” his twin greeted with an outstretched hand.

Luna looked up at him, then back down at his hand, and placed the bottle of vodka in it. Fred looked back at George with an amused grin as he accepted the bottle from her.

“Hello again, George,” Luna said as she turned to face him.

Fred and Ginny looked at him with varying levels of shock in their expressions. Fred looked more confused, while Ginny’s gaze was almost hostile.

“...Hi,” George answered carefully. He didn’t know what else to say or how to explain their first meeting without enduring his sister’s wrath for judging her friend beforehand.

Hermione seemed to sense the tension among them. She poured the chips into a bowl and addressed Luna directly.

“Luna, can you give me a hand bringing these into the living room?”

Luna just smiled and nodded as she did the same with the other bags. She had to walk over to George’s side of the table to take the dip as well, and he took a step backwards as she approached. He was fully aware that Ginny was watching his every move, and she would not hesitate to defend her friends.

“George…” Fred said slowly as he looked back and forth between his siblings. “How come you didn’t say you knew her already?”

“I didn’t know?” George answered honestly. “I mean, I met her once this week, but I didn’t actually know who she was or that she knew my name.”

Ginny studied him for a painfully long thirty seconds, looking for any signs that he was lying.

“I walked by her the other day after that all-nighter,” George continued. “Remember that girl I told you about, Fred? The one in the fountain.”

Fred raised an eyebrow at him. “I told you, that was just your sleep-deprived brain playing tricks on you.”

“No, that was definitely Luna,” Ginny confirmed before George had a chance to call his brother some rather creative names.

Her tone had reverted back from stern to casual, and George didn’t know if the speed of her change in mood was scary or relieving.

“Nothing else happened,” he added, just in case there were still any doubts.

“What the hell was she doing, then?” Fred asked.

“Homework. She’s a philosophy major, and one of her professors is kind of...unconventional,” Ginny said.

“What was the assignment? Freezing your ass off until you come to some brilliant epiphany?”

“Something like that,” Ginny shrugged. “Come on, let’s get drunk.”

George stared in disbelief at his siblings as they just walked off to join the others like nothing strange just happened. He still had plenty of questions himself. Namely, how did Luna know his name, and how was she so sure he wasn’t Fred?

In his experience, nine out of every ten people he met would confuse him for Fred and vice versa until they got to know each twin individually. Even then, there were occasional slip-ups from their own friends. George shook his head to himself as he grabbed the forgotten bottle of rum and plastic cups from the table.

Maybe he was just overthinking, as he tended to do sometimes. Maybe Ginny had just mentioned that she had twin brothers in passing and Luna figured that he was George since Fred introduced himself first. Either way, he was starting to look forward to the possibility of getting drunk with the rest of the group.

“...and slow down before you choke, for heaven’s sake,” he heard Hermione saying to Ron as he re-entered the living room.

Ron had a bowl of chips in front of him and his mouth full as he replied, “‘Mione for once can you just let me live a little?”

Harry left his spot on the couch to join Ginny on the floor in front of the tv. George couldn’t help smiling at them as they leaned against each other’s sides. They had only been dating since this past summer, but he had a feeling their bond was much stronger than other couples who had been together for just as long.

“Oh good, the rum’s here,” Ron said, interrupting Hermione’s impromptu lecture on the dangers of eating too much too quickly.

With that, the group started pouring drinks and discussing how their semester had been going so far. They were barely in the second week of September, but everyone had their fair share of misery.

Lee was the only one there who was completely done with school, and for that, George was a little jealous. He had been working at the same radio station since graduation. George knew that he and Fred had decided to apply for graduate school themselves, but it still stung that Lee was free of the academic struggles they once shared.

One drink and professor horror story came after another, and before George knew it, the room was full of even more football players from both the men and women’s teams. He didn’t know who invited them or when they even arrived, but he found himself standing in the kitchen with Lee and Luna as the living room transformed into a dance floor.

“Ah, to be young and not worry about waking up with a hangover,” Lee sighed dramatically. He had switched to drinking water by this point, and if George was being honest, he wasn’t even sure how much alcohol Lee had to drink before that.

“Here here,” George chuckled as he held up his own empty cup.

“You too, Luna,” Lee urged.

Luna, who was holding one of the hard ciders they brought over, looked between the two of them curiously before raising her bottle in the air.

“Enjoy it while you can,” Lee sighed, “Before you have to piss every five minutes.”

He set his cup down on the counter and started walking toward the hallway. George laughed again as he watched his friend try to push past a group of strangers to get to the bathroom.

“I’ve never been a party host before,” Luna said thoughtfully with her gaze set on the people dancing in the living room. “It’s nice to have guests.”

“Hope you can get used to it. Ginny’s quite the popular girl,” George said.

“You and Fred throw big parties, too,” she mused.

George looked over at her in confusion. Luna seemed to know more about him than he did about her.

“Are you a psychic or something?” he tried to laugh off his uneasiness.

“No,” she said seriously, just like she did back at the fountain. “Ginny talks about her family quite often.”

“Ah, that explains it,” George nodded and brought his cup to his lips. Maybe he could do with just a few more drinks tonight.

“I’ve been to one of your parties before,” Luna continued.

George choked on his drink. He dropped his cup in the sink and he forced the remains of his drink down his throat. Luna looked concerned as she reached out to pat his back. He stopped coughing after a few moments and wiped his face with the back of his sleeve. There was little dignity to be had for someone who practically did a spit take in front of his younger sister’s roommate.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Just fine,” George wheezed, body hunched over. This could not get any more embarrassing, he thought.

“I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to let you know that we’ve met once before,” Luna said as she continued to rub his back.

George tried to search his memories for any indication of Luna’s presence. From what he learned about her in that night alone, she was such a unique person that it seemed impossible to forget her.

“You and Fred were quite drunk, and I’m sure you hosted many other parties after that,” she commented, as if she could read his mind. “I won’t hold a grudge against you if you forgot.”

George blinked at her. Hearing an answer to his thoughts was common with Fred, but hearing it from someone he just met—and who kept surprising him more with each passing minute— was bizarre. He grabbed a clean cup from the counter and filled it with water.

“Well, here’s to many more,” he said as he raised his cup. “May we both host more parties where we have a good time and actually remember what happened the next day.”

Luna smiled as she raised her bottle and bumped it against his cup.

“To many more,” she repeated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Next update coming soon!
> 
> EDIT: Made some minor changes (e.g. soccer to football)


	2. round and round

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George gets knocked off his feet and learns a little more about Luna.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to @tiffaniesblews for beta reading! Check out her Fremione college AU, "Someone New," if that's your cup of tea!

While he wasn’t new to closing shifts at the grocery store, George still wasn’t exactly a fan of the last minute shoppers rushing in just minutes before they were supposed to lock the doors for the night. As it was a Monday night, it wasn’t particularly busy, but he was still tired of the routines. He had just spent the last seven hours training one of the new cashiers, overriding delayed and canceled transactions for the customers who had to run back to their car for their wallets, and returning miscellaneous items to their original shelves after some customers decided they didn’t want them at the register.

He walked by the two cashiers left on their registers, some high school kids who thought they were being stealthy with their phones hidden underneath the weekly flyers by their registers and picked up the phone at the customer service booth. He had already gone through all the registers and locked up the cash drawers for the morning managers—Fred and Angelina, their friend from high school and Fred’s on-and-off girlfriend.

He dialed one of the few extensions he knew by heart and stood up straight in preparation to use his best customer service voice.

“Attention shoppers, the time is now 9:55 p.m. and we  _ will _ be closing in five minutes at 10 o’clock. Kindly make your way to the front of the store with all final purchases. Once again, it’s just about 9:55 and we will be closing in five minutes at 10 o’clock. Thank you for shopping with us today.

Like clockwork, several customers emerged from the aisles with their full baskets and shopping carts. George stationed himself at the end of the conveyor belts to help with bagging, alternating between the two until they were all on their way out.

“Did you walk here today, Daniel?” George asked one of the cashiers, who nodded in response.

“Yeah, but I don't live that far. I’ll be okay,” he tried to reassure George

George made a noncommittal hum and turned to the other cashier, a young girl with curly brown hair that sort of reminded him of Hermione when she was her age.

“What about you, Avery?”

“Same here,” she said.

George frowned and shook his head.

“I don’t want you two walking home alone this late,” he said. “I’ll walk with you.”

“Oh, you don’t have to go out of your way for us,” Avery tried to shrug him off as she turned off her register light.

Daniel did the same before reaching under his register for his backpack and taking off his work vest. George didn’t blame him for keeping it nearby when the staff room lockers were hardly secure. He figured that Daniel must have come to work straight from school. 

While George wished that the teenagers at this store could spend less time working and more time just enjoying their youths, he understood why they all tried to maximize their hours. The Weasleys were no strangers to working extra hours from an early age—with seven children their parents had struggled to provide more than the bare necessities. Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny all had their fair share of babysitting children and taking odd jobs in their hometown before they were old enough for real jobs thanks to the reputations of their elder brothers.

“It’s no trouble, really,” George insisted. “Just let me do the rounds and I’ll walk you both home.”

The cashiers mumbled their thanks as they sat down on the bench at the front of the store. They had already swapped their uniforms for hoodies by the time he finished his final rounds of closing off the cold foods and checking for any stray customers in the store. As George approached them, they put their phones down and stood up.

“Ready to go?” George asked, receiving a nod from both teenagers.

“Thanks again,” Avery said as they locked the sliding doors on their way out.

“Don’t worry about it,” George said. “Besides, what kind of manager would I be if I let you guys get eaten by werewolves overnight?”

Daniel snorted from Avery’s other side.

“How young do you think we are?”

“Old enough to sell your souls to capitalism but not so old that it’s too late to save yourselves,” George replied easily.

“Quit trying to make us quit,” Avery chuckled.

For the rest of the walk to their first stop, Avery’s house, George tried to keep up a casual conversation with both teenagers. They couldn’t resist bringing their phones back to their faces as they kept walking, but he didn’t mind. They weren’t at work anymore but he was always looking out for them, literally and figuratively.

Unfortunately, the cost of watching out for obstacles and crosswalks ahead of them was forgetting to stay just as in tune with his other senses. There was no warning before he crumbled to the ground from the force of someone crashing into him much too fast for his liking.

“Holy shit!” George heard Daniel say from above.

“Hey...language,” George groaned.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he heard a second voice as the person who landed on top of him started to get up.

A small hand reached out in front of him, offering to help pull him up. Although he was sure that there would be a few nasty bruises on his knees, which had taken the brunt of his fall, George couldn’t help laughing at how ridiculous his luck was.

“Nice to see you too, Luna,” he said as he took her extended hand.

For a girl of small stature, she was surprisingly strong. Once George was back on his feet and able to get a proper look at Luna, he noticed that she was wearing a university sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, knee pads over her paint-stained jeans, and a pair of pastel pink roller skates on her feet.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. You’ve got a hell of a shoulder on you,” George teased.

“Your hands are bleeding,” Luna pointed out bluntly.

George looked down at his hands. He hadn’t even noticed how his hands scraped the pavement on his way down. Then again, it all happened so quickly that he didn’t even have the chance to properly brace himself for the fall.

“Huh,” he huffed. “So I am.”

“I don’t have any bandages with me right now, but you can come over and we’ll get you cleaned up,” Luna offered.

“That’s nice of you but I still have to walk these kids home,” George nodded toward Daniel and Avery.

The two teenagers were holding their phones at suspiciously straight angles that were usually reserved for taking stealthy pictures of each other and the other high schoolers on staff. They at least had the decency to look ashamed when George looked over at them for the first time since their walk home interrupted.

“You know what?” Daniel said after exchanging a glance with Avery, who was trying to hide her smirk by pretending to be interested in a nearby streetlamp. “I think you can leave us from here.”

As an experienced schemer himself, George knew what the boy was trying to do, and he was not about to let himself get outsmarted by two teenagers.

“I think I can manage ‘til I get home,” George shook his head.

“Maybe you should give him your number in case he changes his mind,” Avery fired back.

Her smile was innocent, but her eyes had the same glint that George recognized in his own brother’s wicked grins when they were younger. It still happened today, but it was much more common when they were thinking of ways to bring laughter to their high school’s classrooms. George didn’t know if he was more proud or afraid of how much he and Fred had influenced the younger employees.

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Luna agreed.

George reluctantly unlocked his phone and handed it over to Luna.

“Really, you don’t have to worry about me,” he said as she added her information to his contact list.

Luna looked up at him with sincerity in her concerned expression as she handed his phone back to him. Even with the extra height from her skates, George was still at least a head taller than her, but she didn’t look affected by the height difference at all.

“I trust your judgment, so I’ll leave you be. But if you need to clean those,” she pointed at his hands, “Ginny will be home soon to let you in. Goodbye George, it was nice to see you again.”

With a final wave, Luna took off. George watched, dumbfounded, as she glided across the street and turned at the corner. That was the second time Luna correctly guessed which twin he was without any indication from himself, and he still didn’t know how she was so confident in her guess. There wasn’t a hint of doubt in her tone when she said his name. The sounds of snickering turning into full laughter brought his attention back to the scene before him.

“Not a word,” George sighed, knowing that they would disregard that comment immediately.

* * *

“I’m home!” Luna called out when she finally returned to the apartment.

The lights in the kitchen and living room were off, but she could hear Ginny’s music playing from her bedroom. She took off her skates and made her way to her own room on the other side of the apartment. She kept the door open as she hung up her skates on a hook in her closet and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a clean pair of fuzzy socks.

“Luna, can you give me a hand when you’re settled?” Ginny said from her room.

Luna walked into Ginny’s room to the sight of the other girl standing on her desk with a string of fairy lights in her hands. About a third of the lights were already hanging from a small hook that Ginny had stuck on the wall, just a few inches from the top of her window.

“Those are nice,” Luna commented.

“Thanks!” Ginny replied, “Can you help me hang them up?”

Luna nodded and pulled the desk chair over to the other side of the window. Together, they hung the remainder of the string across the window and the perimeter of Ginny’s room. Ginny jumped down from her bed to plug the end of the lights into the extension cord between her bed and desk, illuminating them in a warm yellow glow.

“Thanks again Luna. By the way, how was your day?” Ginny asked as they sat down on her bed. Well, Luna sat down. Ginny opted to fall onto her back with her legs dangling off the edge and took out her phone to lower the music’s volume so they could talk.

In the past few weeks since they had started living together, Ginny made it clear that Luna’s company was always welcome unless stated otherwise, such as when Harry spent the night. Luna always enjoyed Ginny’s company as well. After all, Ginny was the first friend she made in college and one of the only people who didn’t treat her like she was from another planet.

“It was good. I watched a documentary on the Mothman and ran into your brother while I was out just now,” Luna replied nonchalantly.

“Oh? Which one?”

“George. He said he was walking some kids home and I accidentally knocked him over,” Luna said with a shrug.

“Oh really?” Ginny said. “You’re usually so careful when you’re skating.”

That much was true. Luna knew very well how to maintain her balance at any speed. She had just been distracted at the moment.

“I was still thinking about that Mothman documentary,” she sighed. “How was your day?”

Before Ginny could answer, Luna’s phone pinged, signaling that someone had texted her. When she pulled it out of her pocket to check who it was, Ginny raised an eyebrow at her. Luna wasn’t exactly the most popular person on campus, but she still had a handful of close friends like Ginny and their friend Neville.

**From [Unknown Number]:** hey luna, it’s george. do you think i could still take you up on that offer to clean up?

“Who’s that?” Ginny asked as she sat up.

“George,” Luna answered as she sent a reply. “I offered to help clean his cuts but he said he would stay with those kids.”

**To George:** Sure! I’ll let Ginny know you’re coming too.

**From George:** thanks

“Is that okay?” Luna asked.

Ginny’s face was unreadable for a moment until she smiled and nodded.

“Of course. My brothers are always welcome here,” she said. “Well, most of the time. Can’t really have them around when Harry’s spending the night.”

Luna chuckled. She knew that they could get loud during sex if they forgot whether or not she was also home, but she didn’t mind. All she needed was some headphones or a walk around the neighborhood to distract herself and give them some privacy. Since this school year started, Luna found that Harry was a frequent guest even when Ginny wasn’t planning on a date night because Ron and Hermione were fighting so much. She suspected that they would stop once they sorted out their feelings for each other and whether those were platonic or romantic feelings.

“Want to tell me about your day while we wait?” Luna asked.

“It was fine but practice was rough,” Ginny said with a frown. “Some of the freshmen were fighting with each other and I had to break it up.”

“You have a knack for that,” Luna replied with a fond smile.

“For fighting or breaking it up?”

“Both,” Luna said, earning a laugh from Ginny.

During their freshman year, Ginny overheard some of Luna’s own teammates making fun of her at a student athlete mixer. Ginny didn’t even know Luna back then, but she still stepped in and told them off for their poor attitude. From that day, Luna knew that she had a good, reliable friend in Ginny, and she did her best to return the favor whenever possible.

“Did you eat dinner yet?” Luna asked.

“Nope, just got home a few minutes before you,” said Ginny. “What about you?”

Luna shook her head. “There’s a pizza in the freezer we still haven’t eaten. I’ll go heat up the oven.”

They moved into the kitchen as they waited for George, who was knocking on their door within minutes after they put the pizza in the oven. Luna was closer to the door, so she offered to answer it before Ginny could get up.

“Hey George,” Ginny said from her seat at the kitchen table. She still had her phone in her hands, but she wasn’t typing or scrolling through anything as far as Luna could tell.

“Hey Gin, Luna,” he greeted them.

Luna looked down at George's hands, which had stopped bleeding since they last met but still looked rather nasty in her opinion.

“Heard you had a great fall,” Ginny teased her brother. “Nice going.”

“Guilty as charged,” he sighed. “Do you have Neosporin in your bathroom?”

“Top shelf behind the mirror,” Ginny answered. “Bandages are right next to it.”

George thanked her and disappeared down the hall. Luna was sitting across from Ginny when he returned, his hands freshly cleaned and wrapped. In a way, Luna thought he looked like the boxers and mixed martial artists she saw at the gym.

“Why is your bathroom more like an urgent care supply cabinet?” George asked as he walked into the kitchen.

“Injuries happen. I’m always on the field and Luna takes a lot of tumbles on her skates,” Ginny shrugged, not looking up from her phone. “She used to get wicked scrapes and bruises but she’s toughened up these past few years.”

George looked to Luna with a confused expression, and she just mimicked Ginny’s shrug.

“That’s true. I’ve become much more resilient to falls,” she said.

“You didn’t seem to have any other balancing issues after you ran me over,” George chuckled.

“I don’t have trouble balancing. Falling down is just a part of roller derby, but you have to get right back up and keep moving,” Luna replied.

George looked at her like she had suddenly grown a second head from her shoulder. She didn’t think it was that odd for her to be a part of their school’s small roller derby team. Ginny kept her eyes glued to George. She had put her phone down on the table and her shoulders looked tense. She looked ready to jump to Luna’s defense at a moment’s notice.

“Wow,” was all George said. “That’s...intense.”

Ginny’s shoulders relaxed as she picked up her phone again.

“I’ve been meaning to invite you guys to Luna’s match next weekend,” she said. “I’ll put it in the group chat. Harry and Hermione already said yes.”

Luna smiled at the two siblings sitting before her. It was nice to have support from Ginny, but the thought of even more people cheering for her with her best friend made her just as excited as she had been when Ginny asked if she wanted to throw a housewarming party.

“You don’t have to come, but it will certainly be entertaining if you do,” Luna offered.

George grinned back at her and nodded. “I’ll say. I never figured you would be in such a rough sport considering….”

“Considering  _ what _ , brother dearest?” Ginny asked in a sarcastic tone.

The oven timer beeped, signaling that their pizza was done cooking. Luna busied herself with taking care of that as the Weasley siblings seemed to have a silent conversation that consisted of either their expressions and gestures or their texts. Luna didn’t care to find out as she took a knife out of the utensils drawer and started dividing the pizza into even slices.

“Are you staying for dinner?” she asked once she was done.

George looked at Ginny, who looked back at him expectantly, and he shook his head.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ve already overstayed my welcome. Thanks again for letting me use your bathroom,” he said as he made his way to the door.

“See you next weekend!” Ginny called out after him.

Luna noticed that it wasn’t phrased as a question, so she figured that Ginny had convinced him to come to her match. She waved goodbye to George for the second time that night before grabbing a plate for herself and Ginny. She placed a slice on each and handed one to Ginny as she sat down across from her.

“That was nice of you,” Luna said. “Thank you.”

“Anytime, Luna,” Ginny smiled back at her. “You know you’re my favorite derby girl.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hear me out on derby girl Luna, okay? 
> 
> Also, thanks for reading!


	3. i don't know why

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George learns about the Mongolian death worm.

George didn’t know what to expect the following weekend. He and Fred both agreed to Ginny’s “official” invitation in the group chat with Ron, causing him to reluctantly agree as well.

The Weasley siblings met outside the building, where Harry and Hermione were already waiting. When they walked inside, their conversations were immediately drowned out by a roar of the small crowd and the sounds of ten pairs of roller skates racing across the track.

“There she is!” Ginny pointed to one team wearing dark blue t-shirts, bronze-toned helmets, and matching blue tube socks that reached their knee pads.

Among them was Luna, who waved back at the group when she noticed Ginny. Her helmet had big white stars on either side, and George wondered what that meant as they took their seats in the bleachers.

The track itself was slanted like a skatepark ramp that had a small flat area in the center. From what George could tell, one of the teams that were currently on the track was Luna’s.

“Holy shit, she’s gonna die!” Fred exclaimed as he watched a player crash her hips into her opponent’s sides.

A few of them fell flat on their butts, but they recovered quickly enough. George watched in horror as the two players moving fastest around the track continued to break through their opponents’ lines of defense.

Ginny tried her best to explain the basics of roller derby, but she insisted that they would learn better by watching as the current jam ended. None of them knew what she meant by jam except for Harry, so he explained that that’s what they called rounds in this sport. The players were swapped out, and the new lineups took their places at the starting line.

“Keep your eyes on Luna,” Ginny said proudly as the match started. “She’s small, but that makes it easier for her to—“

Ginny cut herself off as they watched Luna push her way past the other team, checking two women with her hips before skating away from the pack.

“Well, to do that,” Ginny laughed. “She’s fast and her height makes it easier for her to get them in the legs, you know?”

George didn’t understand what was happening, but he laughed with his sister anyways. This was something he had never seen before, and he was starting to feel a little intrigued by seeing this side of Luna. One day she was in a water fountain before the sunrise and another she was playing the roughest sport George had ever seen.

“Hey Gin?” Ron said from Harry’s other side.

“Yeah?”

“Did that girl on the red team just dislocate her shoulder?” Ron asked nervously.

George, who was watching Luna as instructed by Ginny, looked over at the woman in question and winced. He had seen his fair share of sports-induced injuries, and that definitely didn’t look good.

“Huh. I guess she did,” Ginny mused. “Wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened here.”

“Has Luna ever been injured like that?” Hermione asked, the concern rising in her voice.

“Yeah,” Ginny shrugged, “It’s a good thing we both know how to pop it back in though.”

George winced again. He knew that was a painful process, and it would continue to hurt afterward. At the same time, he felt his respect for Luna growing. She was certainly tougher than her small frame and soft voice made her look.

The jam ended almost as quickly as it began, but it felt like the longest two minutes of George’s life. He thought the teams would make another substitution, but Luna stayed on the track. He watched in horror as she got ready to go for another round.

Ginny and Harry cheered for Luna every time she passed by them, causing the rest of their group to join in. At one point, both Fred and Ron commented on the attractiveness of one of the players on the opposing team, earning a swat on the back of the head from Hermione and Ginny.

When the match finally ended, George let go a sigh of relief. His heart was racing just from watching Luna weave her way through the blockers—at least that’s what Harry called them— and jump over the fallen players. He still didn’t fully understand this sport, but he knew enough from Ginny’s whooping and cheering that Luna’s team won. They waited by the concession booth for Luna to change and join them.

She emerged from the locker room in a fresh set of clothes with a duffle bag over her shoulder. Her face was still a little flushed and her hair, which had been in braids before, was now falling freely down her back.

Ginny hugged Luna as she approached the group.

“You kicked ass out there!” she said.

“Great job, as always,” Harry nodded in agreement.

“Thanks,” Luna said with a smile. “And thank you all for coming out today.”

“I should’ve known you were tougher than you look when you knocked me flat on my ass,” George chuckled.

Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance; they were apparently the only people who haven’t heard about last week’s run-in.

“You landed on your front,” Luna corrected him honestly.

Ron and Hermione didn’t look any less confused as they started walking toward the exit.

* * *

As expected with a group of eight on a Saturday night, dinner was a rather loud affair. They had to talk over each other to hold multiple conversations, but no one seemed to mind. They were well-fed and sipping on their third round of drinks when Fred leaned over to Hermione and whispered something in her ear. The way Hermione’s face went pink went unnoticed by George, who was occupied with his conversation with Ginny and Luna. Ron, who was sitting next to Luna and across from Hermione, did notice and stood up with a scowl. He threw some cash on the table and walked out without a word to anyone.

“I should go check on him,” Harry said, turning to Ginny. “Let me know how much I owe you later?”

She nodded, and Harry got up from the table to follow his friend. With their group down two members, Ginny turned her attention back to her remaining brothers. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Fred rest an arm on the back of Hermione’s chair, not quite touching her shoulders but he might as well have.

George knew that look on Ginny’s face. It usually meant that she was about to lay into one of her brothers (usually Ron) or someone who had the misfortune of offending her. He also knew that Ginny would have no problem telling him off in front of other people.

“So tell me more about _The_ _Quibbler_ ,” he prompted Luna.

Luna’s eyes seemed to light up as she reached into her bag and pulled out the latest issue of her father’s magazine. She and Ginny had briefly mentioned it at the beginning of dinner, but the conversations in the group moved too quickly for anyone to learn more beyond the fact that Luna’s father was the founder and lead editor.

“We specialize in unnatural and supernatural phenomena,” Luna said proudly, handing over the magazine to George.

George took a look at the front cover, which looked more like a psychedelic watercolor painting of wood nymphs and fairies than anything. He wondered if Luna and her father were serious or ironic about believing in things like Mothman and the Loch Ness Monster.

“I can honestly say I’ve never seen something like this,” George said as he flipped through the pages.

He thought he caught a glimpse of a government conspiracy infographic, but he honestly didn’t know what he was looking at when it came to _The Quibbler_. When he was done, he gave the magazine back to Luna, and she put it back in her bag.

“I write articles too,” Luna explained, “Did you know that the Mongolian death worm can kill you by spraying venom?”

George blinked back at her, trying to process what she just said.

“No, I didn’t,” he shook his head.

“It mostly preys on camels and lays eggs on the insides, but it prefers to eat plants more,” Luna said seriously.

She continued her explanation of the Mongolian death worm’s natural habitat and the various attempts that humankind had made to catch it in action. George just nodded along, surprised at how quickly he became fascinated. 

George wasn’t sure he believed in a killer worm, but Luna definitely knew how to draw people in. He may have been a little drunk, too, but he thought she was a natural storyteller. After a few minutes, Luna noticed that he had gone quiet.

“Oh, am I talking too much?” she asked with genuine curiosity. “I usually don’t get to talk this much about cryptids, but we can talk about something else if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“That’s a damn shame. Nothing wrong with talking about your interests...It’s...It’s,” George shook his head, trying to figure out how to finish his thought.

“It’s cute.”

The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself. He usually knew what to say, even when he was on the cusp of tipsy and drunk, but there was something about Luna’s expression that he couldn’t name.

George was suddenly very aware of Ginny’s eyes on him, just like the day of her housewarming party. For whatever reason, the universe seemed to grace him with Luna breaking the tension by laughing.

George didn’t know whether to be relieved or embarrassed. Ginny seemed to relax, so he followed her lead and sat back in his chair, taking a large gulp of his beer. He didn’t need a mirror to know that his ears were probably red. The same trait easily betrayed everyone else in his family.

The rest of the evening passed by quickly. At Fred’s insistence, he and George both had another round of drinks before they settled the bill and left the restaurant. As they walked back toward Hermione’s apartment, which was their first stop, George offered to carry Luna’s bag for her. She didn’t seem to mind, and Ginny’s stare was gradually becoming more curious than suspicious, so George just shrugged back at her as he took the straps from Luna’s offering hands.

Unfortunately, George underestimated just how heavy the combined weight of the skates and equipment would be. His hand dropped faster than he expected before he recovered, lifting the bag over his shoulder. It was a quick lapse in judgment, but Fred was quicker.

“Need any help, Georgie?” he teased with a smirk.

“You’re too kind, Freddie,” George teased back.

“You’re both idiots,” Ginny laughed as she pushed past both of them.

They dropped off Hermione outside her building, with Ginny making Hermione promise to text her when she was back in her apartment. With Ginny and Luna leading their small group to their building, Fred gave his brother a knowing look.

“Loony, huh?” Fred said under his breath.

George punched him in the arm. He didn’t mean to make it loud enough for Ginny and Luna to look back at them, so he just smiled and waved them off. Once their backs were turned to them, George turned back to Fred.

“Come on, you know her name,” he muttered back. “And we’re better than that.”

“Better than what?”

“ _Fred_ ,” George warned.

He didn’t have to say more to make Fred back down, hands raised in surrender.

“You’re right, you’re right,” he relented. “Just wanted to see what’s gotten into you.”

George didn’t know how to respond to that. Besides the brief slip-up during dinner, he didn’t think he was behaving any differently than he normally did. He didn’t even know Fred _heard_ that with how much he was talking to Hermione.

“You got me there,” George shrugged. “Wish I knew.”

When they reached Ginny and Luna’s building, George slipped the duffle bag off his shoulder and gave it back to Luna.

“Thanks,” she smiled up at him. “And thanks to both of you for coming today!”

“Glad we came,” Fred replied. “We got to see a side of you that none of us could have predicted.”

“You would have known if you answered my texts,” Ginny said.

“Details, details,” Fred waved her off.

“Have a good night you two,” George chuckled and waved goodbye to the girls.

With that, he turned and started leading Fred down the street.

“So you like them young?” Fred asked once they were out of earshot.

George stopped walking and looked over at his brother, who was grinning back at him with a familiar glint in his eyes. That usually meant he was scheming, but George had a feeling he wouldn’t be involved this time.

“Never said anything about liking her,” he tried to shrug it off. “She’s just an interesting person.”

“Lee was _interesting_ , you know,” Fred smirked.

“I’m seriously going to maim you,” George rolled his eyes and started walking ahead.

“Georgie, wait up! I’m _joking_!” Fred called after him.

“What’s that? Is there a ghost haunting me tonight?

" _George!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!
> 
> I'm forever soft for George/Luna but I'm also really soft for Fred/Hermione 🤔🤔


	4. it comes back to you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luna and George bond over coffee and tea.

On most Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, Luna tried to make the most of her lunch break between classes. Sometimes, she took a walk along the bike path to clear her head. When she was in an exploring mood, she explored the local coffee shops and cafes between campus and downtown. Since she grew up in a small town, she never grew tired of looking for new things to do.

Some days, such as today, the rain became too overbearing for Luna to go from shop to shop. Instead, she went straight to Rosa Lee Teabag, which had become one of her favorite tea shops since she stumbled upon it with Ginny during her first year of college. 

With a cup of jasmine tea in one hand and a copy of the latest _Quibbler_ in the other, Luna was content to sit by the front window.

The steady rhythm of the rainfall helped her focus on reading instead of listening to the conversations of the other customers. Luna set the magazine down on the counter for a moment as she looked out at the few people braving the weather.

One group of three men were huddled together as they made their way down the street. They lacked umbrellas, which Luna thought was odd considering their only protection from the weather was their overcoats. One of them was trying to tuck a folder under his coat when the wind picked up, sending its contents across the street and onto the sidewalk just outside of the window Luna was watching them through.

Just as quickly as they lost their papers, the three men were running across the street. Once they were close enough for Luna to see their faces, she recognized the group as George, Fred, and their friend Lee. Together, the three of them collected their soggy papers from the sidewalk, street, and—to Fred’s clear displeasure— the top of a trash bin.

Fred was also the first one to see Luna on the other side of the glass. He smiled at her and waved, then turned to say something to his companions. George looked confused, then turned around to see Luna waving back at them.

The door swung open with a ring of a bell. For just a few seconds, the roar of the wind and rain outside swelled inside the shop. Fred was laughing with Lee as they gave George a light shove in Luna’s direction.

“Hello George,” she greeted him. “How are your ears?”

George stood before her with a confused look on his face.

“Sorry?” he asked after a long pause.

“Your ears,” Luna repeated, pointing up at her own ears. “It’s quite common to get water in your ears from walking around in storms like these.”

“Oh,” George chuckled now that she had explained herself, “They’re fine.”

Fred and Lee approached her next, carrying three cups of their own. Fred held the soggy folder full of equally drenched papers in his free hand.

“Hey Luna,” Fred said casually on his way to sit three seats down from her at the counter. 

“Hello,” she waved again.

“One black coffee for George,” Lee said as he handed the drink to George. 

Lee took the seat next to Fred, leaving just one empty space between himself and Luna.

“Thanks,” George mumbled, taking the seat between Lee and Luna.

“Enjoying the weather?” Fred teased from his end of the counter.

“Very much,” Luna nodded. “The ambiance of the noise is rather calming after an excitable weekend.”

Lee snorted quietly into his cup, but both twins were quick to nudge him with their elbows. It was a subtle gesture on their part, but Luna noticed.

“Would you like to borrow my umbrella when you’re ready to leave?” she offered.

The maroon umbrella in question was hanging off the back of her chair. It was still dripping a little from when she had been outside earlier, but Luna thought it was in better shape than all three of their coats.

“We can’t leave you without an umbrella in this weather,” George shook his head.

“I don’t mind,” Luna insisted. “My last class today is close by, and I just thought that those papers you all chased could use some extra protection.”

She didn’t see their reaction as she took another sip of her tea. Between her umbrella, raincoat, and rubber rain boots, she was already much more prepared to face the storm than the three of them combined.

“You got us there,” Fred laughed.

“I’m serious, Fred,” Luna said as she hopped down from her chair. “I actually have to leave soon, so you should take it.

Luna put her magazine back in her backpack and handed the umbrella to George. She caught him off guard, and his fingers grazed hers as he adjusted his grip to hold the handle. The brief contact brought Luna’s gaze up to meet his, and she smiled easily.

“Thanks,” George smiled back at her.

“You’re welcome,” she said as she zipped up her coat.

Luna picked her backpack up from the chair and pulled it over her shoulders. She checked the counter once more for any other belongings, only backing away once she was sure she had everything she needed

“Have a good day, everyone,” she said with one final wave to the group.

Luna walked out of the shop with her head held high. She arrived to class with damp hair and a slightly soggy backpack, but she didn’t mind. With a few more minutes before class officially started, she took out her phone to check for any missed messages from Ginny.

Instead, she found two texts from George.

 **From George** : thanks again for the umbrella

 **From George** : you saved our asses

 **To George** : I’m glad I could help

* * *

George didn’t think he would see Luna again until he could return her umbrella on Saturday, but she happened to walk into the same cafe where he and Lee were having lunch together. He invited her to join them, and he just listened as Luna and Lee got to know each other better. Lee seemed confused by the _Quibbler_ and all the cryptids Luna was talking about, but he was still polite with Luna. George was grateful that they got along well.

The next Tuesday, he and Fred ran into Luna at a different coffee shop, where she recommended that he try their seasonal latte. George thought it was mediocre at best, but he was glad he could at least say he tried something new beyond his usual black coffee. They spent the next hour discussing the philosophy assignment Luna was currently working on. He didn’t quite understand the theories she was talking about, but she didn’t seem to mind as she walked him through the different schools of thought.

That same week, they started making plans to meet up for lunch or coffee and tea since they seemed to have the same breaks in their Tuesday-Thursday schedules. At first, George wondered if he was overstepping his role as Ginny’s older brother and Luna’s acquaintance, but he tried to push that thought to the back of his mind as he realized that they weren’t doing anything he wouldn’t have done with any other friends.

The last days of September faded quickly into October, and Luna seemed more than happy to try the Halloween-themed drinks and treats wherever they went. When Fred didn’t show up with him, George explained that he and Fred usually worked opposite shifts at their grocery store, but sometimes Angelina took over if the schedule required those changes.

The next week, Luna asked what he and Fred were studying in grad school. He explained their dream of owning their own shop full of toys and practical joke supplies. Since they first applied for their undergraduate programs, they agreed that Fred would pursue business management while George studied sales and marketing.

Every week, without fail, Fred and Lee made sure to tease George in their group chat. He usually brushed them off and changed the topic, but Fred was relentless as soon as George came home to get ready for work. In return, George would ask how Hermione was doing. It never failed to get Fred to drop the subject.

In their third week of meeting up for lunch, George finally remembered to bring Luna’s umbrella with him. On some days, like today, they were content to just keep each other company as they worked on their respective assignments. That was what George had assumed until Luna spoke up over the indie music playing through the coffee shop speakers.

“I need to tell you something,” she said bluntly.

George looked up from his textbook in confusion and set down his coffee.

“Go on.”

“You’re a good friend,” Luna said sincerely. “I don’t have many friends to begin with, but you’ve been kind to me.”

George blinked back at her.

“Er...I think you’re a good friend, too,” he said, still confused. “And Ginny’s lucky to have you as a roommate.”

“I like you as more than a friend, too,” Luna continued. “And I’d like to go on a proper date. What do you think?”

Luna was staring at him with an intense gaze that reminded George of both Ginny and Hermione when they had their minds set on something. He supposed that this confidence could have been a result of being friends with them, but something told him Luna was self-assured on her own.

“I...uh,” George stammered. “I don’t...I mean, I don’t know what to say.”

Luna set her tea down and closed her laptop. She was only sitting across the table from him, but the distance suddenly felt so much larger to George. He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands.

“I mean, I like you too,” he admitted, “I just don’t think it’s a good idea. I think we’re better off as friends.”

The words spilled from his mouth before he could stop himself. It wasn’t a complete lie, in George’s opinion. He really did think she was interesting and fun to hang out with, but something about their age difference didn’t sit right with him. She was around Ginny’s age, with nearly a three-year age gap between them. He already felt a strange sense of guilt every time they spent time together alone, but this would have actually crossed the line.

“Oh,” Luna nodded solemnly. “Okay.”

George wanted to kick himself. He was sure Fred would kick him later when he would eventually hear about it from Ginny. He didn’t even want to think about what Ginny’s reaction would be.

“I’m sorry,” George offered weakly. “I...I can leave if you want.”

Luna had brought her book back up to her face and she nodded silently. George didn’t bother shoving his own books back into his bag as he got up. He just put his jacket on and tucked them under his arm.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated quietly on his way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Next time: George has some explaining to do.


	5. i'm so sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luna processes her feelings while George tries to avoid his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been...a while since the last update, but I tagged this as slow burn for a reason.

Ginny thought something was wrong when Luna came home and went straight to her room. She knew something was wrong when she walked into the hallway to find that Luna’s door was closed.

“Luna?” she called through the door as she knocked. “Can I come in?”

“Sure,” Luna said from the other side.

The first thing Ginny noticed upon entering Luna’s room was the way Luna had wrapped herself in the quilt she had made for herself last year. In her experience, Luna only did this when she was terribly upset. Ginny climbed onto the bed next to her friend.

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” she asked.

Luna didn’t look up to meet Ginny’s eye, but she nodded.

“I asked your brother out and he rejected me,” Luna said in a quiet, steady voice.

For someone dealing with her first heartbreak, Luna looked surprisingly calm to Ginny. Ginny, on the other hand, was thoroughly surprised that one of her brothers managed to catch Luna’s eye. She made a mental note to grill whichever brother hurt Luna later, but she knew that she needed to be there for her friend first.

“Oh babe,” Ginny said as she scooted closer to wrap an arm around Luna’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry.”

Luna sighed as she rested her head against Ginny’s shoulder, wrapping the quilt tighter around herself.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I had a crush on George sooner,” she said. “I know you’re not exactly fond of the idea of any of your brothers and me together.”

Ginny frowned. She knew she could be a bit overprotective when it came to her best friend, but she didn’t think Luna would ever be too scared to be honest with her.

“Luna, you’re free to date whoever you want,” Ginny tried to reassure her. “I may get defensive when it comes to you, but I should know better. You’re mature enough to make your own decisions.”

They stayed quiet for several minutes as Ginny just ran her hand up and down Luna’s arm. When Luna cried, she wasn’t as loud or expressive as most people. The first time Ginny saw her cry, she was worried that Luna was too insecure or shy around her to truly let it all out. 

In reality, Luna just had a different grasp of her own emotions. While others might have burst into tears after trying to stifle their pain, Luna let her tears roll down her cheeks at their natural pace. She once told Ginny that she knew holding back would only make things worse, earning a large amount of respect from Ginny. Luna still shook to catch her breath and hiccuped after that didn’t work like most people. 

“George said he liked me, too,” Luna sniffled once her breathing became steady enough.

Ginny reached over to the box of tissues on Luna’s desk and offered it to her.

“So he rejected you because he doesn’t want to be happy?”

Luna shook her head, then blew her nose with one of the tissues.

“He said that he likes me, but we shouldn’t be more than friends,” she explained.

Ginny frowned again. She knew that Luna could say things that seemed illogical to her, but she didn’t expect to hear the same about George, who was usually more level-headed than this.

“I’m going to kick his ass into the next century,” Ginny said. “I already have five other brothers, and Fred’s literally his carbon copy, so my parents won’t even miss him.”

Luna chuckled, sitting up for the first time since Ginny took her in her arms. “That’s a little overzealous. I don’t want him to feel bad for being honest about his feelings.”

“Fine, he’s safe for now,” Ginny rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. “But if you ever change your mind just say the word and I’ll be there with a shovel.”

Luna’s grip on the quilt loosened as her shoulders shook again, this time from laughter.

“I appreciate your passionate and somewhat violent support. Thank you, Ginny.”

“If you don’t want to channel this energy into bringing my idiot brother down a peg, what else do you have in mind?” Ginny asked.

Luna hummed as she thought about it, then let the quilt go completely and pool around her waist as she reached for her phone.

“Would you like to join me for a paint night? I have a coupon for the craft store for new canvases,” she offered. “We can invite Hermione, too.”

“That’s a wonderful idea,” Ginny smiled.

Tonight, she would paint with her friends and they would air their grievances about men as they sipped wine. She would deal with her brother tomorrow.

* * *

It had been a week since George last saw Luna, and that was only in passing. She gave him a polite wave as she skated past him on the bike path. It had been over two weeks since they actually spoke—since he practically ended their budding friendship.

That day, he had returned home to find Fred and Lee experimenting with prototypes of their first practical joke supplies. He didn’t have the heart to dampen the bright smiles on their faces with his own self-pity.

The next day, he received twelve voicemails from Ginny with increasingly louder and aggressive messages about leading Luna on. He received nothing from Luna herself. Still, George forced himself to call her back and explain that he didn’t mean to hurt Luna.

Between work and classes, George barely found time to relax when he got home, let alone talk to Fred about his situation. However, his brother was more perceptive than George gave him credit for.

“It’s Tuesday, right?” Fred asked as he watched George make himself a sandwich in the kitchen.

“Yeah,” George replied absently.

“Shouldn’t you be out playing footsies with Luna and writing her name all over your notebooks?” Fred chuckled.

“I don’t know, Fred. Shouldn’t you be checking if Hermione read your last text from two hours ago?” George fired back.

“Ouch, that was low, Georgie. Accurate, but low nonetheless.”

George put his knife down and stared at his twin. When he didn’t crack a smile, Fred’s amused grin faded.

“Oh shit, what happened?”

“What makes you think something happened?” George asked in return.

“For starters, you’ve been going on lunch dates with her twice a week for nearly a month,” Fred began. “That’s almost as often as we have lunch plans together. Us. We’re womb-mates—”

“I told you, that works better in writing,” George interrupted.

“The point is, you spent more time with Luna in the past month than Ron and Ginny. You can’t tell me that you’re devoting so much free time to someone who’s ‘just a friend.’”

George sighed as he returned his attention to his sandwich. He picked up the knife again and sliced it in half.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore,” he said. “She asked me out and I said we should stay friends, but I don’t think she wants to be my friend anymore.”

“She what?!” Fred exclaimed incredulously. “The girl you’ve been crushing on since the first day you met asked you out and you said _no_?!”

George took his plate and walked over to their kitchen table. Fred got up from the couch and sat down across from him.

“She’s cute, she’s kind, she’s _interesting_ —all _your_ words, not mine—and she’s the first person besides our own family and close friends who can tell us apart. Hell, even Katie and Alicia still mix us up if they’re standing far enough away,” Fred continued.

George stared back at his brother with a mildly surprised expression as he ate. He didn’t think Fred had paid that much attention to George’s social life beyond their mutual friends.

“Yeah, don’t think I didn’t notice about the way you think of her like this manic pixie dream girl who sees you for _you_ and not just one half of an incredibly handsome set,” Fred rolled his eyes. “What’s not to like about her?”

Now George was getting annoyed. He could accept that Ginny would be mad at him on Luna’s behalf, but hearing the same words from Fred was different. Fred was the one person he thought he could always count on to be on his side.

“First of all, I’m going to let those comments about her slide just this once because you’re my dear brother and I’d hate to strangle you without letting you defend yourself,” George said.

“Second, she’s still a college student. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re the old men haunting the campus. Don’t tell me you’d feel okay with dating someone as young as Ginny.”

Fred leaned back in his chair, as he contemplated His brother’s perspective.

“I guess you have a point there,” he reluctantly agreed. “But you have to remember that they’re still adults capable of making their own decisions.”

George looked up from his half-eaten sandwich. He didn’t feel very hungry anymore.

“Look, I might have messed up by making that call too soon,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t change the fact that Luna hasn’t talked to me since I asked to stay as friends.”

Fred straightened up again, a smirk spreading on his face.

“Well, that’s easy. She put herself out there by making the first move last time. It’s about time you sent the first message.”

George blinked one confusion before taking out his phone. Some part of him knew Fred was right. He had been guilty of radio silence from his end since his last lunch with Luna. Another part of him doubted Fred’s advice. Luna seemed pretty upset when he left her in that coffee shop, and he didn’t want to push his luck.

“Fine, you win,” he sighed as he took out his phone. “You should give Hermione a text too, though. Can’t let these mind games control your life.”

As he typed his message to Luna, George heard Fred grumble something that sounded suspiciously like his name and “snail pace,” in the same sentence.

 **To Luna:** hey i know we left off on a sour note last time, but i hope we can still be friends if you want

 **To Luna:** want to hang out on thursday? we can invite whoever you want if you don’t want us to be alone

George didn’t expect Luna to answer right away, and part of him was prepared for her not to answer at all. He would have understood if she didn’t want to talk to him.

The small grey bubble with ellipses popping up just before he was about to set his phone down surprised George.

 **From Luna:** I’d like that :)

* * *

Although George offered to invite other people as a buffer between them, Luna decided to go alone to meet up with him. Ginny offered to join them, but Luna had a feeling that it might be awkward regardless of whether they had more company.

She agreed to meet George at Rosa Lee Teabag, where he was already sitting off to the side in a large armchair. They waved to each other before Luna approached the counter. She ordered a white chocolate mocha and joined George at the chair across from him.

“Thanks for coming out today,” he greeted her as she sat down. 

“You don’t have to be so formal, George,” Luna shrugged. “I’m not mad at you.”

“Oh,” he blinked at her. “I...uh—”

“I was upset when you rejected me,” she explained. “But if you don’t want to date me, then I’d like to still be friends with you.”

“Luna, you’re being...awfully nonchalant about this,” George said. “I just want you to know it’s okay if you’re not cool with being friends.”

Luna shook her head. “If I didn’t want to be friends, I wouldn’t have said yes. I appreciate that you care, but I can make my own decisions.”

“So, you’re okay with just us hanging out?”

“Yes, but there is something I’d like to ask of you,” Luna said. “If we are going to keep being friends, we need to be honest with each other.”

George nodded. “Seems easy enough."

“If those feelings I had for you come back, I’ll tell you and we can figure out what to do together,” she continued. “Would you do the same if you start to feel that way about me?”

George smiled easily and held out his hand across the small table between them. “I think you’ve got yourself a deal, Lovegood.”

Luna chuckled and reached out to shake his hand.

“I’m glad we’re friends, George.”

With the tension dissolving between them, they fell back into old habits. They discussed George and Fred’s progress with their practical joke shop as they sipped their coffee over the next hour. Luna was relieved to see that George had relaxed again as they talked.

* * *

Across campus, Harry Potter was trying his best to distract his girlfriend from abandoning her brief window of availability just to check up on Luna in person.

“Ginny, we both know that you would be the first to know if something goes wrong with Luna,” he tried to reassure her.

Ginny nodded absently, keeping her eyes on her phone lying face-up on the table between them. The screen was in sleep mode, but she had been watching it for any new notifications from Luna for the last fifteen minutes.

“Uh huh.”

“Will you please eat something so you don’t pass out at practice later?”

She nodded again, picking a piece of chicken out of her salad with her fork.

“Ginny,” Harry deadpanned.

“Yeah?” she mumbled.

“You’re halfway there,” Harry said. “Let’s try something new.”

He reached over to pick up Ginny’s phone, sliding the ringer switch from off to on.

“Now you can eat in peace and still be the first to know if or when Luna needs you.”

Ginny looked up at her boyfriend for the first time since sitting down to eat with him.

“I’m just worried about her,” she said as she raised her fork to her mouth. “But you’re right. I should eat.”

“You’re a good friend, Ginny,” Harry smiled. “Luna’s lucky to have someone like you looking out for her.”

“You’re just trying to get brownie points with me now,” Ginny rolled her eyes, smiling as well.

“Is it working?”

Ginny picked up a piece of lettuce and flung it at Harry.

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” she laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I'm not sure when the next update will be, but I at least know where I'm going with it so far.


End file.
